Ray Evernham has left ESPN and returned to Hendrick Motorsports, where he will work in the competition department for the organization where he spent much of his NASCAR career, FoxSports.com reported Wednesday.

Evernham was Jeff Gordon’s crew chief from 1993-99, winning 49 races and three NASCAR Cup championships with Gordon. He left Hendrick during the 1999 season to start his own Cup team and help with Dodge’s re-entry to NASCAR.

FoxSports.com’s Tom Jensen reported Wednesday that Evernham will work with all four Hendrick teams and even be on the pit box during some races. He will work in a variety of roles, assisting both the management and the competition department.

But, according to Fox, you can forget about Evernham returning to his former crew chief role.

“It’s not about me going back on top of the box and calling that frigging two-tire stop and pulling some big trophy out of my butt,” Evernham told Fox. “Those days are over.”

And forget the inevitable speculation that he could become Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief next year when Steve Letarte moves to NBC. Evernham says that’s not happening either.

“You have way less chance of me being a crew chief again than you do of getting hit with a meteorite,” Evernham told Fox. “This has nothing to do with Steve Letarte leaving.

“Mr. Hendrick (team owner Rick Hendrick) felt like I could make a difference in a lot of different areas and help take a load off some people,” Evernham said. “And I think that’s where we’re headed. But I promise you, not even for one second was there any consideration of going and being anybody’s crew chief.”

After leaving Hendrick, Evernham started his own Evernham Motorsports team, winning 13 races with Bill Elliott, Jeremy Mayfield and Kasey Kahne. He sold his team to George Gillett, forming Gillett Evernham Motorsports. That organization eventually became Richard Petty Motorsports.

Evernham has been working with Rick Hendrick’s automotive group the past few years, while also serving as a TV analyst for ESPN. He will leave ESPN to avoid any sort of conflict of interest while working for one of the sport’s top teams. ESPN’s NASCAR TV contract expires after this season.

Evernham, who does not yet have a title with Hendrick, characterized the move as returning home.

“Rick Hendrick and the Hendrick family have been really, really important to my life. Always,” Evernham told Fox. “And even though going and doing the Dodge deal was great for me and it taught me a lot, I always missed being part of the Hendrick group.”